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Oligodendrocyte differentiation in development and disease

Kabbe, Mukund (2019) MOBN03 20182
Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
Popular Abstract
Mukund Kabbe

Oligodendrocyte differentiation in development and disease


Oligodendrocytes (OLs) are cells that reside in the brain and spinal cord (collectively called the central nervous system (CNS)). They wrap the axons of neurons with a lipid-rich substance called myelin. Functionally, the myelin sheath around the axon is similar to the insulation around wires for electrical devices. It provides electrical insulation and allows the inner current to flow faster through the wire. In the CNS, the myelin sheath aids rapid signal propagation from neuron to neuron, which is important in not only processing information, but also for conveying signals to the peripheral nerves and to the muscles so they can contract. Multiple Sclerosis... (More)
Mukund Kabbe

Oligodendrocyte differentiation in development and disease


Oligodendrocytes (OLs) are cells that reside in the brain and spinal cord (collectively called the central nervous system (CNS)). They wrap the axons of neurons with a lipid-rich substance called myelin. Functionally, the myelin sheath around the axon is similar to the insulation around wires for electrical devices. It provides electrical insulation and allows the inner current to flow faster through the wire. In the CNS, the myelin sheath aids rapid signal propagation from neuron to neuron, which is important in not only processing information, but also for conveying signals to the peripheral nerves and to the muscles so they can contract. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease where immune cells enter the CNS and begin attacking the myelin sheath. This causes the loss of the myelin sheath, death of the oligodendrocyte and the eventual death of the naked unwrapped axons. However, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are able to migrate to areas of the CNS where demyelination has occurred, differentiate into OLs and remyelinate the naked axons. As the disease progresses however, this process becomes less efficient and eventually stops, causing symptoms to worsen. MS is not purely hereditary, meaning its occurrence cannot be attributed to genetics alone. More and more research has shown that there is a strong environmental component as well. For example, people with reduced sunlight exposure at high latitudes have increased susceptibility to developing MS. These environmental stimuli are capable of changing the way different genes are expressed in the cells and studying how this gene expression is regulated is called epigenetics.
This project focuses on studying the epigenetic landscape of cells in the OL lineage in both development and during disease, to see how disease-specific stimuli can affect genetic expression of specific genes. We use high-throughput sequencing technologies to study the epigenome of OL cells derived from healthy mice and mice induced with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) which mimics MS pathology. We identified a subset of genes that show specific expression in disease and transcription factors that might be regulating the expression of these genes. It is important to study these transcription factors and their mechanism of action, as they could be used as pharmacological targets in therapeutics to prevent their activity in driving disease-associated gene expression.

Master’s Degree Project in Molecular Biology 60 credits 2019
Department of Biology, Lund University

Advisor: Mandy Meijer
Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kabbe, Mukund
supervisor
organization
course
MOBN03 20182
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
8995050
date added to LUP
2019-09-16 12:11:48
date last changed
2019-09-16 12:11:48
@misc{8995050,
  author       = {{Kabbe, Mukund}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Oligodendrocyte differentiation in development and disease}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}